always some sort of scam in texas

they do everything big in texas...and that includes grand theft as well as stolen ballot boxes...

and so, completely uninvited and/or/provoked, some scammer outfit in austin texas called netspend all-access, promising me that i can get my paycheck "up to two days earlier!" ( presumanbly so i can move closer to bankruptcy by spending more quickly ) has sent me a debit card, replete with computer chip and with my name spelled correctly so i can access my hard won earnings through their...i am uncertain here...bank? savings and loan?payday loan store?...they claim my deposits will be "fdic insured up to $250,000" through the kind services of something called pathward national association...which, per their website, engages in "banking as a service" (BaaS)...what might that be?____ " How Banking as a Service Works____ In traditional banking, a banking license is required as is following strict government regulations. However, a banking-as-a-service partnership means that companies can seamlessly integrate financial services directly into their existing platforms while avoiding the hassle of government rules and licensing that starting a bank would require. "___oh...those pesky regulations setting limits on just what a half-bright texas boy with a full head of hair, good teeth, and a glib line of bullshit might be able to do for himself...things become clearer...being paid faster so i can spend faster and, no doubt, be subject to some "hidden fees"? nah..i still remeber "credit default swaps" and lehman brothers...sure they tightened up the regulation after that meltdown...but memory is short and the time has come again for bold new innovations in the banking sector that feed the greed imperative that drives the economy ( and, as if i need point it out, the government on every level...debt as national policy...reduce the population to debt penury and pay them enough to service the interest on their debt in perpetuity...the whores are transparent by dint of their unrelenting hubris )...money is an abstract expression of work...and i have no desire to work for the aggrandizement of some yahoo ( in the swiftian sense ) from fucking texas...i will take a pass...but the unactivated debit card goes into the archives...fuck these people.

praxis

“the objective of all human arrangements is through distracting one’s thoughts to cease to be aware of being alive.”-fred nietzsche______________________________________ ________ i almost agree…arrangements take advantage of human nature (yes there is one despite the social sciences’ aversion to the idea )to induce one to “cease to be aware” of the negative impact of some situations and surroundings on the individual psyche…however one is certainly aware of being alive…and awareness of the negative impact has the capacity to return...the “arrangements” duration can vary and the anesthesia can fail…my visceral loathing of my place of employment is never so vivid as when i am in the parking lot waiting to go in…one supposes this is common since the concept of “work” or, rather “job” ( which we will define as paid work ) is unnatural and alienating ( in this marx was correct )…and yet, once the day has started this loathing fades into insignificance…however only if there is sufficient praxis ( and we will use the aristotelian definition of “goal oriented activity” rather than some kantian, or worse marxist , application of an apriori theory to events…we will be inductive and hypothesize from experience…empiricism only ) to focus the attention…to induce tunnel vision that makes the loathing, along with most other negative issues, fade…should the supply of praxis ( work ) be insufficient to last the day’s shift loathing can return in pre-praxis levels…when one’s attention is focused on work one is still well aware of being alive…particularly if the work involved is of a complex nature…awareness is focused but awareness exists…routinized, habitual work may allow the mind to wander…even back to loathing, however, usually, if the mind wanders too far the work demands a refocusing of attention…even habitual work has contingencies that can be violated…and one has to wonder exactly how aware of this facet of human nature capital is and how much it actually depends on it to have its necessities ( mostly profit ) seen to…another case of a human trait being subverted and applied to a purpose that may actually be inimical to one’s wellbeing…whether that would be psychological ( loathing is a defense against toxic situations ), physical, or both…one wonders just how much capitalism has “done for us”…and how much it has taken.

biotic corporatese

“stores remain an integral part of our omnichannel retail ecosystem”________________________ that overwrought statement comes from a press release from a “retail giant” announcing the now routine closing of “brick and mortar” stores…aside from wondering what committee is assigned the task of thinking this final vocabulary up ( and it is nothing If not final vocabulary ) i am inclined to think it is also an extension of the systematic attempt to make corporations biotic…alive…like the use of the term “ corporate dna “, “retail ecosystem” attributes living characteristics to an anthropogenic structure attempting to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts…which is a necessity since some of the parts are vanishing…the propaganda slant is that the vanishing is engendering a “healthier” situation…relativistic…does “healthier “ mean a more stable financial situation or is it symptomatic of “ecosystem” failure? the corporate “ecosystem” has become far more complex than its beginnings would have indicated… when the republic was young corporations were chartered for a specific purpose ( say road or canal building ) and for a limited duration ( once the road was complete the corporation ceased to exist )…they could not own other corporations or assets unrelated to their chartered purpose, nor could they make political or charitable donations ( no owned senators or corporate pr about how wonderful they are because of their good works as they take all the money they can )…not anymore…corporations are now recognized as “individuals” invested with rights ( one wonders about where the ”obligations” that generally are listed with “rights” have gotten to in this case ) and they behave like “individuals”, some of whom display a marked sociopathy in their self-interest…in their relentless approach to competitors ( especially smaller ones ) and their disregard for laws that might limit their prerogatives in seeking profit ( this i can document from personal experience…and here we encounter the suspension of early prohibitions in the area of political donations…money and power are fungible and money can make things disappear as well as appear )…and the ethics of seeking that profit are shaky at best…there is a singular focus on credit, especially in-house credit with a good deal of propaganda concerning the benefits while concealing the costs ( frankly i think debt is a national political agenda…a fair portion of the political establishment finds social spending an anathema and that would be because it mitigates at least part of what would be debt for the less privileged among us…debt is the only thing that makes new money [interest] and debt peonage where all the polity can afford to do is service interest on their debt in perpetuity is capital’s dream state of affairs ) and they spare no expense on advertising ( read propaganda again ) that subverts the consumer’s sense of value by striving to convert the discretionary into the necessary…corporations are not sociopaths...they are a legal screen ( and defense ) for the authoritarian ( admit it, all corporate structures are top-down authoritarian regimes and any leadership that they puke out into the public sphere is bound to be of an authoritarian bent ) sociopaths who create and control them…capital loves money and will go to almost any lengths to acquire as much as they can because ( again ) money and power are fungible…we all need to consume to survive and i am not innocent of “discretionary spending” that is not directly tied to subsistence ( clearly so since I am posting this on a website via a computer on my desk…that’s a start )…we are all embedded in “the system” and extrication is not a simple matter since some of what was once discretionary has actually become necessary…gasoline for instance…or electrical power…what can you do without electricity? my neighborhood empties out when there is an outage as people seek television and free wi-fi…we’re all wired in…opting out is a challenge.

what do you do?

in "the wealth of nations" adam smith uses the manufacturing of pins to illustrate how division of labor makes induistrial production more efficient...each operation in the process being done by one laborer..and in "democracy in america" alexis de tocquville agreed it was more efficient but wondered about the impact on the laborer asking "what can one expect of a man who has spent twenty years of his life putting the heads on pins"...a question of mind numbing deskilling and one that could lead to the opinion of that gibbering elitist edmund burke when he said "the occupation of hairdresser or of a working tallow chandler cannot be a matter of honor to any person to say nothing of other, more sevile, employments."...so how is it that there is a fair segment of the polity that makes judgements on the intrinsic worth of individuals based on how they earn a living? admittedly in what they call a clulture here, the question of what do you want to be when you grow up

( i aplogize for the quality of this graphic...it was the best i could manage ) creates the model for that judgement from an early age...and, for some, play is no escape...

i have driven a truck, worked in industrial manufacturing for decades, and now hold what passes for a retirement "job" in recieving for a "major retailer"...is that the ultimate measure of my worth? i am also a parent and a grandparent and i hold 156 succcesfully completed undergraduate hours...there must be some merit in that...isn't there more to all of us beyond "what we do"? okay, humans like to compare themselves to others to see how they stack up...there has to be a better graduation than occupation/net worth...what is that actually a measure of? i have to think it is basically an index of how much we can acquire in the way of material goods...how deep we can dive into the consumerist sump...i am unaware of your circumstances, but i already have more "stuff" than i can use between now and when i shuffle off this mortal coil...beyond, possibly, food i don't need anymore...that is a matter of complete indifference to capital...need or not it is sure to come...and at whose expense? another can of ethical worms slithering about...what i "do" is central to my ability to consume...and as far as the hegemons are concerned that is half of my reason tio exist...the other half is to work and create "added value" that can be siphoned off as profit through stock portfolios and tax evasion by the above hegemons...they have a distinct interest in focusing my attention on what i "do" from an early age ...they want you to ponder it deeply as well...to compare yourself...to strive for more "stuff"...they reap most of the wealth from that and it has been that way, on one level of consumption or another, through most of recorded history...i don't know about you, but i am "stuffed".

it's 2023...isn't it?

depends...contingency ( there's that word again...inescapable ) is at work here...all you need to do is look at time zones to realize clock time is an arbitrary system of both command and control ( what time is it and when do i have to be at work? ) and an effort to give a framework to the experienced elasticity of time..."time flies when you're having fun" and boredom is a defense against toxic social situations...either way, time is not consitent in its passing...calendars are not fo much more use...it's not even christmas yet in the julian calnedar and new years isn't for another thirteen days..although it will be 2023 on the fourteenth...it's the year 230 in the french revolutionary ( which i am told is actually a misnomer ) calendar and new years was on the twenty-second of this past september...on the eighteenth of july ( the first of muharram ) the islamic claendar turned over to the year 1444 while the jewish calendar made it to the year 5783 on rosh hashanah ( the twenty fifth of this past september )...so who actually knows what year it is or how quickly...or slowly ( or an admixture of the two ) whatever year you choose to believe it is will pass? time isn't really very well defined...commerce runs on clock time...nature on event time ( a version of time far more closely related to reality...ask my asparagus )...and when i assert chronal autonomy it passes in a variety of ways ( usually quickly )...whatever your year is here's hoping it is a better one than the last and that you get, at least, some measure of equanimity and some of what you fancy...however you view it your alotted time isn't getting any longer.

the municpality as HOA

the citing official was reasonable and as polite as was possible given the situation...he also, willfully or not, telegraphed that one of my neighbors was involved when he told me to make what i planned to do "neat and tidy so no one complains"...so much for neighborliness...i will also say that he was passing out citations for alley violations all down the block so it was not a case of singling out...and the third point was there was a considerable amount of detritus from the great elm collapse of 2019...and with that we have exhausted any points that might favor the municpality...they gave me five days ( until christmas...thoughty of them ) to conform or "tickets will be issued as soon as the sixth day"...this one can accept since it would involve revenue...i was off today so i cleaned up...

i established a pile by the street per the instructions i was given...well with in the five days...if the municpality has not retrieved it by the 26th i will be firm in my belief they owe me money...they will not see it as such...and i am inclined to belive they will not be picking this lot up any time soon either since the weather is due to take a turn for the arctic ( even if it is warming )...where the municpality has veered completely off course ( due i believe to one of my whiny neighbors ) is insisting we deconstruct the bush pile my wife has constructed as winter bird habitat...

note the number of filled bird feeders and the birdbaths ( including one "heated" [even though it is only "heated" enough to keep the water liquid ] birdbath ) which are meant to sustain any number and variety of birds...the brush is shelter...i believe the mayor is in for an earful over this and rightly so...there are limits to what the polity should coutenance from politicans...what next? cut down the hawthorn in the front yard? change the siding color? move the house three feet to the left? the municpality is not a homeowners association even if my neighbors feel it should be...we will se how this unwaranted intrusion pans out and i will be posting a photo of the pile from the alley...which,ironically, the birds will use as shelter as long as it is there...on social media every day the municipality negelcts to come collect it...one supposes to be fair i should only start on the 26th...i am not feeling all that disposed to give the municpality any benefit at this moment...we will see where my attitude is at tomorrow...as it stands right now they can all go pound sand

papal pretentions

earlier this morning michelle goldberg's column in the new york times ( on line, it isn't in the print edition ) carried this lede...

however when i logged back on this was the new lede...which is just as well since i was having difficulty with the idea that the times editorialists were just now familiarizing themselves with the narcissistic element in politics...i have to think there is at least a touch of narcissism at any level of leadership, coprporate or otherwise, and this would of necessity be a bit more pronounced in the more public and popularity ( even chartisma? ) based world of politics...and , one supposes, the farther up the political hierarchy one examines the more fully embraced narcissim is ( as we have seen in the recent white house denizen )...no lack of hubris in the political world..."i am the decider" was a fully dubya way of expressing it...however it does extend a bit farther back into the history of the office...nixon was paranoid and obsessed with his historical reputation to the point of criminality...and, among other blatant howlers, he said , " i would have made a good pope"...despite his quaker aposticism...even deeper, martin van buren penned a 776 page autobuography...always an element of narcissim in that and i wonder who, exactly, has read it ( to be clear i have not...i am simply admiring the fact that he could find 776 pages of personal detail to write about...must have been a wonderful life )...that krysten sinema should be labeled an narcissit is probably not much of a deviation from fact...so is shumer and that jerk mcconnell...and the rest of the zoo in the nation's capital ( and let us not overlook the jibbering bozos downstate here )...i am simply surpried the times was alert enough to identify its error and send the offending lede down the memory hole.